1. Field Of This Invention
This invention relates to a clasp suited for garments, in particular for furs.
2. Prior Art
The clasp involved in the prior art consists of an eye element and a hook element which is provided with a base plate to be fixed to the garment, a positioning web and a locking web. To close the two matching parts of the garment, the eye is hooked or engaged in the hook element.
In their simplest form the known hook-eye clasps consist of open U-shaped hooks into which the respective eye is inserted. Such open hooks are, however, not secured against unintentional opening.
Besides, hooks with elastic legs are known whose open U-ends are closed by an elastic or rigid bar, so that the eyes have to be engaged against the resistance of the elastic part of the hook.
The clasps most commonly used today are hook-eye clasps provided with a tilting bow. This tilting bow is guided in a pin support and kept in open or closed position by means of incorporated spring elements; it thus has two stable positions.
Finally, a clasp is known whose hook element consists of a rigid L-shaped bow fixed on a base plate and a rigid locking bar arranged on the push-in side of the eye and which has in the leg of the L-shaped hook parallel to the base plate a spring partly recessed in the leg. The spring closes the push-in slit between this leg and the locking bar and can be pushed back for hooking the eye in (German Patent Specification No. 11 18 714). The main purpose of avoiding a tilting bow in this type of clasp is to achieve gentle handling of the fur.
The hook elements of all known hook-eye clasps--except the primitive hook which does not provide any safety against unintentional opening--consist of several elements, which makes their production cost rather high. In addition, these clasps are awkward to use and require too much time for opening and closing. Besides, tilting bows damage the valuable fur around the clasps, because in each closing process hairs are caught between the eye and the engaging tilting bow.